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Performance standards for STAAR to be phased in

AUSTIN
–The commissioner of education today unveiled the performance standards
students must achieve to pass or excel on the State of Texas
Assessments of Academic Readiness (STAAR™) end-of-course tests.
“These
standards will be challenging for our students and will push academic
performance to a new level in Texas. Students who pass the STAAR
end-of-course assessments will be better prepared for success in the
next course or in postsecondary pursuits,” said Commissioner of
Education Robert Scott.

Three performance categories have been set for STAAR EOCs. The definitions for the categories are:Level III: Advanced Academic Performance*
Performance
in this category indicates that students are well prepared for the next
grade or course. They demonstrate the ability to think critically and
apply the assessed knowledge and skills in varied contexts, both
familiar and unfamiliar. Students in this category have a high
likelihood of success in the next grade or course with little or no
academic intervention.
* For Algebra II and English III,
this level of performance also indicates students are well prepared for
postsecondary success.Level II: Satisfactory Academic Performance**
Performance
in this category indicates that students are sufficiently prepared for
the next grade or course. They generally demonstrate the ability to
think critically and apply the assessed knowledge and skills in familiar
contexts. Students in this category have a reasonable likelihood of
success in the next grade or course but may need short-term, targeted
academic intervention.
** For Algebra II and English III,
this level of performance also indicates students are sufficiently
prepared for postsecondary success.Level I: Unsatisfactory Academic Performance
Performance
in this category indicates that students are inadequately prepared for
the next grade or course. They do not demonstrate a sufficient
understanding of the assessed knowledge and skills. Students in this
category are unlikely to succeed in the next grade or course without
significant, ongoing academic intervention.

As the state has done
for at least the past two testing programs – the Texas Assessment of
Academic Skills (TAAS) and the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills
(TAKS) – the passing standards will be phased in. The Level II passing
standards will be a four-year, two-step process. A two-year phase-in
will be used for Level III performance on English III reading and
writing and Algebra II only.
The phase-in approach was adopted
because of the significant increase in the rigor of the STAAR program
and because the distance between the initial and final passing standards
for Level II is generally larger than the distance between the initial
and final passing standards for TAKS.
The phase-in will provide
districts with time to adjust instruction, provide additional staff
training, and close knowledge gaps.
“We have found that a gradual
increase in standards sets realistic but challenging expectations for
our students and results in improved academic performance,” Scott said.

The
performance standards each student must achieve will be based on the
year a student takes his first end-of-course assessment.

If
students take their first STAAR EOC assessment in 2012 or 2013, they
will be held to the first set of Level II phase-in performance standards
for every assessment in that content area.

Students who take
their first STAAR EOC assessment in 2014 or 2015 will be held to the
second set of Level II phase-in performance standards.

The
final Level II performance standards will be in place for any students
who take their first STAAR EOC assessment in 2016 or later.

The
final Level III performance standards will be in place for any students
who take their first STAAR English III writing and reading and Algebra
II EOC tests in 2014 or later.

Level II standards

The
scores needed to reach the various performance levels are expressed as
scale scores. Once fully phased in, the score needed to achieve Level II
performance will be a scale score of 4000 for each of the following
assessments: Algebra I, Algebra II, geometry, biology, chemistry,
physics, world geography, world history, and United States history. The
initial phase-in standard for these tests will be 3500.

The
scale score needed to achieve a Level II performance on each of the
English I, II, and III reading and writing assessments is 2000. The
initial phase-in score is 1875.

Level III standards

The
Level III standards will not be phased in for English I and II reading
and writing, Algebra I, geometry, biology, chemistry, physics, world
geography, world history and U.S. history. The final performance
standards on these tests for Level III will range from 4333 to 4634,
depending on the assessment.
An initial phase-in score of 4080
will be required to earn a Level III performance for the Algebra II
assessment with the final Level III score set at 4411.
The
English III reading assessment will require an initial phase-in score of
2135, while the English III writing assessment will require an initial
score of 2155. The fully-implemented standards will require a score of
2356 on the English III reading test and a score of 2300 on the English
III writing test.
State law now requires students graduating in
2015 or later to earn a Level III rating on Algebra II and English III
to qualify for the state’s Distinguished Achievement Program high school
diploma.
The attached table lists the scale scores needed on all
the STAAR EOC assessments. The category called minimum refers to a
score that is below Level II but is high enough to be included in the
cumulative score students must achieve on the three assessments in each
core content area.
Texas classroom teachers and administrators,
higher education faculty, education policy experts, staff from the Texas
Education Agency and Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board, and
psychometricians who are experts in the development of educational
tests, worked together for four years to prepare passing standard
recommendations. Additionally, TEA and Coordinating Board staff
conducted research studies over a three-year period to link performance
on a STAAR assessment and performance on other assessments in the same
content area.
TEA expects to release the first round of STAAR EOC results in June.
Additional information about the STAAR EOC standards can be found at http://www.tea.state.tx.us/student.assessment/staar/.

Phase-in and Final Recommended Level II and Level III Standards and Minimum Scores